Friday, January 29, 2010

Before I get to today's project there were a couple of questions about the acetate cards from yesterday.

Q - Where do I get my acetate?

A - I save lots of it from packages I buy but if I need fresh sheets I buy them at Office Depot or Staples. I think you could find them at any office store. They are by the over head viewers/transparency area.

Q - How did I ink the dragonflies?

A - I used a waterbrush filled with Ink Blending Solution and painted it on. I applied a solid color to the body and I added "dots" of color on the wings. The blending solution in the waterbrush gives the color just enough viscosity to move just a bit but not over power it's neighboring colors.

Today's Adirondack Alcohol Ink project wasn't used by Ranger but I thought it was cool anyway. It's a clock I made using game pieces, foam core board and one of those inexpensive clock kits from Wal-Mart.

Instructions:

1. Cut a piece of foam core board to 8x8" square.

2. Apply Sunshine Yellow to the entire piece of foam core.

3. Flip the foam over and find the center by drawing 2 lines from corner to corner. Where they intersect is the center. Poke a hole through the board so you know where the clock pieces will come through.

4. Time to "play" with the game pieces! Arrange various game pieces on the board until you are satisfied with how it looks. This may take some time to move, fit and rearrange the pieces to suit your desired look.

5. Take a photo of the game piece arrangement. I know it sounds weird but trust me, you WON"T remember how they went together after you remove them to ink.

6. Ink all of the game pieces using a variety of Alcohol Ink colors. For some of the more dimensional pieces you may have to remove the felt from the Ink Applicator and use it by hand. Yes, you're fingers will be inky but hey...that's half the fun ;)

7. Follow the photo diagram, attach the game pieces to the foam core board using your favorite glue. I like to use Aleene's Quick Grab Extra Thick Tacky Glue. It is REALLY thick and holds great. Let the game pieces dry over night.

8. Once the game pieces have dried, insert the clock kit and attach the hands. I'm thinking I'll paint the hands black since they don't show up too well.

ENJOY!!

I added an extra little bit of fun by adding a message with scrabble tiles ;)

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Well since CHA is officially over I thought over the next bit here I would start sharing a few projects I made for Ranger! I worked with several lines of their products so today I am going to start with the Adirondack Alcohol Ink line!

All of these projects were made using acetate in one form or another.

Mother

This card was stamped using a Just For Fun stamp on one side of the acetate. I then flipped the acetate over and colored the image in using the alcohol inks!

You're special...

The dragonflies were stamped on glossy cardstock and on acetate. The acetate dragonflies were colored using alcohol ink and Stickles Glitter glue, cut out and attached to the card which was also colored with alcohol inks.

The Earth laughs...

I used alcohol inks on both the glossy cardstock to create the background as well as on the acetate which was die-cut and attached to the card. (stem was cut free-hand)

I've got a couple more projects using alcohol inks that I'm going to talk about a bit more in depth soon!

I had soooo much response from the Rectangle Bar Stamp from scrap rubber yesterday I thought I'd post a bit more...

I've had several people ask about UM (un mounted) rubber stamps as well as who made the swirl stamps I am giving away. Those stamps were from a kit club that is no longer in business and no longer available.

Sorry!

Also, to answer several questions about the um stamps I'm working on a little comparison between all of the different types of stamps out there. I sometimes forget and don't stop to think that some people may only be familiar with wood stamps or clear acrylic stamps.

To clear up some of the questions I'll try and get the comparison posted as soon as possible!

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

I'm sure most of you are familiar with unmounted rubber stamp dies...you know just the red rubber images without foam, wood or mounting material of any type.

When you cut the actual stamps out you're left over with a whole pile of waste rubber...

Way back in December of 2007 I shared a way to create mosaic stamps from this scrap material. I always meant to go back and share a few more examples of what you can do with this abundant commodity that usually is tossed and forgotten. I am FINALLY getting around to it again.

Today instead of individual mosaic tile stamps I thought we could work with a 2" long 1/4" wide rectangle.

To use I simply ran a line of dry adhesive on one of my acrylic blocks and positioned the new "stamp" on the adhesive.

And stamp away...

Here are just a few examples on what you can do with this seemingly boring rectangle bar....

What ya think?

Pretty fun huh?

Who knew you could take garbage and make it into something cool!

Now I could be evil and just give away the scraps but I thought it would be nice if I gave away the set of swirly stamps so you could have the benefit of both the stamps AND the scraps!

So, if you'd like to win this set of stamps to play with all you have to do is post a comment to be entered to win! You have until 2-3-10 to post.

Elaine mentioned that the papers reminded her of Impressionist flowers...it did me too! That's why I wanted to share them with you :)

The first two examples are ATC's...

Beautiful ATC

Friends ATC

not sure if you can tell but the main image was stamped on acetate then colored on the back side using Smooch ink.

And a couple of cards...

Love

You're special...

Altered Candy/Gift Container

And my favorite project incorporates both the paper (on the container) and the paper towels which I turned into flowers! I think most of you will recognize the fast food french fry box which is the basis for this little candy/gift container!

I took one of these french fry boxes apart and used it as a template for cutting and assembling.

The flowers used to decorate the box were cut using Sizzix multi layer flower die. I folded them up, dipped the end in glue and applied them to the box.

This last photo shows a different type of flower I also made (laying in front of the altered container) from the paper towel. To create this flower I torn bits off around the edges of 3 squares ~ one of each color. I then gathered 2 of the paper towels in the center (pink & red) and wrapped them with the remaining purple towel.

So there you go...

a fun, quick and easy technique that really doesn't take anything special to create but offers up beautiful results!

Monday, January 25, 2010

I was cleaning up a couple Distress Ink projects over the weekend and I ended up setting my damp paper towel on a pile of scrap paper cuttings ~ when I went to toss them all in the trash I found that the paper towel had left a pretty cool design behind! You know me...got me to thinking of the various paint techniques using paper towels and thought hey, we can do that with ink.

I must warn you though...this will give you ink stained fingers ;) so if you don't want to be inky you might want to wear a pair of gloves for this one.

Supplies:

Distress Re-Inker

Paper Towels (I like Viva - they are very strong)

Water

Cardstock

Heat It Craft Tool (or other embossing gun)

Instructions:

1. Cut the paper towel into 4 smaller pieces.

2. Soak the paper towel with water...not dripping but pretty damp.

3. Place one drop of Distress Ink on your Non-Stick Craft Mat or other non-porous surface.

4. Now dab at the ink with the damp towel. Be sure to pick up the ink in several areas of the towel so there is good coverage.

5. Repeat this step if additional colors are desired.

6. Place your cardstock on your craft mat. Start with one color and dab the wet - inky towel over the cardstock. Remember to shift the paper towel wad around so you don't get the exact same impression over and over. If desired you may squeeze the towel to release additional water with the ink for a different look.

7. When you are satisfied with the coverage of this color use the heat-it craft tool to dry this layer.

8. Continue adding additional layers of color by dabbing on the color and heating.

You will be able to create several sheets of this beautiful watercolor looking cardstock using the very same inked towels. I ended up with 8 sheets (5 shown) but could have kept going as I still had quite enough ink!

Now don't go throwing out those inky paper towels just yet!

You can dry them and incorporate them into your creations as well!

I'll have several examples to share tomorrow incorporating this paper (and the paper towels) on cards, tags and more!

Teach Yourself Visually - Collage & Altered Arts

About Ink Stains

What constitutes a good day in my book? Ink Stains on my fingers! I want to share that good day feeling with you by offering up a variety of card sketches, altered projects & lay-outs, challenges and goodies to get you all Inked up!
If you've got an idea that you'd like to see or challenge for me to try I'd love to hear from you...till then, Ink On My Friends, Ink On!